The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency named its first chief artificial intelligence officer Thursday. The agency promoted Lisa Einstein, a senior adviser on AI for the past year. In addition, Einstein served as CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee executive director in 2022.

NTIA expects it will finish reviewing most initial plans for the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program next month, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said on a conference call with Vermont broadband officials Thursday. Montana, Oklahoma and Vermont may access more than $1.6 billion combined from the $42.5 billion BEAD program, NTIA said earlier in the day. The federal agency approved volume 2 of each state’s initial plan. NTIA allocated about $628 million to Montana, $797 million to Oklahoma and $228 million to Vermont. NTIA has approved entire initial plans for half the 50 states, plus three territories and the District of Columbia. The pace of approvals has quickened lately, with NTIA clearing six plans last week (see 2407260035). Davidson noted an “increased cadence” of approvals, with the agency signing off on three or four plans each week. The NTIA administrator expects that pace will continue through the summer. While expecting the “bulk” of reviews to be done by September, Davidson said there might be “a few small stragglers.” Vermont is “very excited to move from planning to action,” said Christine Hallquist, Vermont Community Broadband Board executive director, on the same call. Vermont expects it will collect bids this fall and winter and hopes to start releasing funds in Q3 2025, Alexei Monsarrat, said a rural broadband technical assistant specialist with Vermont.

T-Mobile on Wednesday became the last of the three major wireless carriers to report Q2 results, announcing it added 777,000 net postpaid phone subscribers and 406,000 fixed wireless subscribers. However, it warned of a financial hit of up to $450 million this year from the shuttering of the affordable connectivity program. Meanwhile, CEO Mike Sievert told analysts T-Mobile is “open-minded” but not set on buying additional fiber assets.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday signaled they want Donald Trump to rescind President Joe Biden’s AI executive order if the former president wins the November election.

Jaydee Griffith, previously NTIA, joins ATIS as managing director-Next G Alliance; David Young moves to vice president-technology policy and government relations ... SAP Chief Revenue Officer Scott Russell and Chief Marketing and Solutions Officer Julia White leaving company and executive board, effective Aug. 31; CEO Christian Klein fills Russell’s position in interim, White’s position to be dissolved ... Dual-screen TV company Telly appoints SpotX co-founder and ex-CEO Mike Shehan chief revenue officer ... Cybersecurity company Cyware names Terrence Driscoll, ex-JP Morgan Chase, chief information security officer ... Zehra Akbar, previously Skygrid, joins AI startup Imandra as COO ... Leidos promotes Ron Keesing to chief AI officer ... Chinese carrier- and cloud-neutral internet data center services provider VNET Group appoints David Lifeng Chen, Hongshan CBC Cross-border Digital Fund, to board, succeeding Erhfei Liu, resigning.

The federal government shouldn’t impose immediate restrictions on the “wide availability of open model weights in the largest AI systems,” the NTIA said Tuesday (see 2402210041 and 2404010067). Model weights refer to core components of AI systems that enable machine learning. Open AI models are open-source, allowing public access to data, while closed models are private. NTIA gathered public comment on the benefits and risks of open and closed models in response to President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI. Current evidence isn’t “sufficient to definitively determine either that restrictions on such open-weight models are warranted, or that restrictions will never be appropriate in the future,” NTIA said in its Report on Dual-Use Foundation Models with Widely Available Model Weights. The agency recommended the federal government “actively monitor a portfolio of risks that could arise from dual-use foundation models with widely available model weights and take steps to ensure that the government is prepared to act if heightened risks emerge.” However, NTIA laid out possible restrictions for the technology, including a ban on “wide distribution” of model weights, “controls on the exports of widely available model weights,” a licensing framework for access to models and limits on access to application programming interfaces and web interfaces. NTIA noted that restrictions on open public model weights “would impede transparency into advanced AI models.” Model weight restrictions could limit “collaborative efforts to understand and improve AI systems and slow progress in critical areas of research,” the agency said. Open Technology Institute Policy Director Prem Trivedi said in a statement Tuesday that NTIA is correct in recommending the rigorous collection and evaluation of empirical evidence, calling it the right starting point for policymaking on the issue.

Alaska telecom industry groups urged state regulators to slow the pace of an already delayed proceeding to craft phone deregulation rules. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska had initially required comments by May in a renewed effort to implement SB-83, Alaska's 2019 telecom deregulation law (see [Ref:2404100058). However, because Alaska lawmakers approved a bill (HB-307) earlier that month clarifying the RCA’s telecom powers, it extended the comments deadline until July 29. However, the legislature only transmitted the bill to Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) July 16, and he hasn’t signed it. On July 22, the Alaska Telecom Association (ATA) sought another extension at the RCA, but an agency spokesperson said Monday that it wasn’t granted. If HB-307 becomes law, the RCA’s proposed rules “may no longer be appropriate or applicable,” ATA wrote last week. The group suggested that the RCA provide 90 more days, until Oct. 28, to file comments so that parties can “provide thorough, constructive comments -- particularly comments that include proposed alternative regulation amendments in light of any statutory changes.” The Matanuska Telecom Association said Monday that the RCA “should not, and cannot, adopt the regulations noticed on April 12, 2024.” MTA agreed with ATA that the proceeding should be extended, saying that stakeholders “cannot adequately prepare useful, substantive comments, or alternative regulations proposals … while HB 307 awaits action before the Governor,” it said. Dunleavy has until Aug. 8 to sign or veto HB-307, the governor’s spokesperson said Tuesday. The bill would also become law if the governor didn’t sign it by that date. ATA Executive Director Christine O’Connor thinks the matter ultimately “will work out fine,” with another opportunity to weigh in likely to come, she said Tuesday. “The RCA still needs to issue draft regulations” for implementing SB-83 and HB-307, which would trigger another round of comments, she said.

The Senate voted 91-3 on Tuesday to approve a pair of kids’ online safety bills, shifting attention to the House, where the legislation awaits committee consideration.

Comcast appoints Lance West, ex-American Petroleum Institute, as executive vice president-federal government affairs and head-Washington, D.C., office, effective Sept. 3 (see 2407290039) ... Networking company ZeroTeir names 7percent Ventures’ Andrew Gault CEO ... Electronics solutions provider Radwell appoints Chris Snodgrass, ex-Caterpillar, CEO, effective Aug. 5 ... NAB appoints Nexstar’s Michael Biard to board ... Data infrastructure company NetApp nominates June Yang, ex-Google, to stand for election to board on Sept. 11.

Lance West, former chief of staff to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., will head Comcast's Washington office, the cable company said Monday as it announced hiring West as executive vice president-federal government affairs starting Sept. 3. West most recently was American Petroleum Institute's vice president-federal government relations, overseeing its federal lobbying. Prior to that, he spent more than three years with Manchin. Previous Executive Vice President-Government Affairs Mitch Rose retired in May.